The Duke and Us

Holliwell bridge was featured in the movie. It was damaged by a huge tree during the spring floods.
Culter-Donahoe Bridge
Stone bridge was used in the movie.
Ethanol Plant
Winterset street named for its famous son.

The birthplace of The Duke.
Jim, who did not have a beer, offers wine to Marion Morrison.

"A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do"

We are at the Winterset Community Park in Winterset, Iowa, another new state for both of us. Winterset is the county seat of Madison County made famous by the book and the movie about its covered bridges. We took a drive to see some of the bridges that were in the movie. One disappointment was that many of the bridges have been moved to new locations and you can no longer drive over them. You could see some of the damage done to one of the bridges caused by the spring floods. Almost all of the streams and rivers we have crossed in Iowa show signs of the flooding with trees and vegetation washed out along the banks. In many low lying areas mud still covers the land. Another thing we have noticed driving across the Corn Belt is new ethanol plants being built to turn corn into energy.

Another claim to fame for Winterset is that it is the birthplace of the famous actor, The Duke, Marion Robert Morrison who was born here in 1907. We toured the house which contains memorabilia from his movies and famous friends. In 1984 President Reagan visited the home and signed the guest book with his address 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. For a couple of days we just took it easy, relaxing, reading and watching the Olympics. Iowa reminds us of Western Pennsylvania with rolling hill, many trees and farms.